Intrepid Force Rotax announced today that they have invited Australia’s Daniel Rochford to join the team at the 2008 Rotax Euro Challenge…

The 16-year-old impressed the Austrian-based team when he competed at the Rotax Grand Finals last November, racing against some of the World’s best junior drivers in the class. Rochford will join his new team-mates Imre Birizdo of Hungary and Austria’s Kevin Reichard in Senior Max, who finished 4th and 5th respectively at the Max Finals event. In the Rotax DD2, Dominik Kraihamer will make his Euro Challenge debut in the premier class with the team, at the first round in France on March 26–30.

IFR race team manager Ernst Penninger says the team is excited about the decision, explaining that they have helped make it possible for Daniel to race in Europe, giving him a good platform to develop his future Motorsport career.

“In line with the team’s philosophy, it’s about ‘racing to get there’. Our expectation of Daniel for now is mainly to see him gain the necessary experience in this, his first year in seniors. Of course, we believe he’s quite capable of winning. We’re looking forward to working with Daniel and Peter [Cathcart], who have recently moved to racing Intrepid and also continuing our successful relationship with Australian drivers, as we have the past three years.”

For Daniel, the chance to compete in Europe is something he has only dreamed of up until now, but this has not come easily and still means looking for personal sponsors to help back his campaign. Australian company Sniper Laser Alignment Systems has offered to assist the young Aussie driver as part of their ongoing support of the Austrian team.

How did the opportunity come your way to drive in the Euro Challenge with ‘Intrepid Force Rotax’? DR – “After racing at the Rotax Grand Finals last year in the United Arab Emirates and having very solid results all week, Intrepid Force Rotax believed that I had the potential and could further develop my racing skills in the Euro championships.”

What was your first reaction when you got the news? DR – “I was very excited and over the moon to be racing the Euro Challenge with such a competitive team.”

What do you see as the main benefits of being with IFR for your first race in Europe? DR – “I believe that being part of Intrepid Force Rotax will be a great learning experience and give me the best possible chance to achieve my goals.”

So, what are you expectations of racing in the Euro championship, especially after having competed against many of the drivers at the Rotax Grand Finals late last year? DR – “I will do my best and do everything possible to perform in striving for top ten and hopefully even podium finishes.”

It’s a long way to France, it’s winter and you’ll be racing on a track you’ve never driven on. How will you prepare for this event to perform to your best ability? DR – “Before leaving, I’ll be practicing in my Intrepid Kart in Australia by doing some long stints to keep in shape. Also competing in the Victorian open recently gave me some good race time. In France, I will also be watching the on-track action, as I believe it is the most affective way of learning about a new track.”

With Peter Cathcart assisting you as he did at the Grand Finals, what approach will you take to the opening round of the series? DR – “We will approach the First round with a positive, open-minded, “can-do” attitude as we did at the World Finals.”

How do you think you will go? DR – “I am pretty confident in myself. I’ll listen to the advice of Peter and the team then I think that I can achieve consistent and good results. I just can’t wait to get there!”

Are you hoping to do all four rounds of the championship? DR – “Absolutely yes!”

Daniel’s engine technician and mechanic for the European championship Peter Cathcart of CC Racing says he is looking forward to the experience and working with the Intrepid Force Rotax Team. Unfortunately, the Aussie pair will miss the Australian Nationals, when they fly out for Paris on Saturday.

‘Intrepid Force Rotax’ senior driver Dominik Kraihamer has given the Salzburg-based race team a brilliant start to the European season for 2008, by taking the honours in the Rotax DD2 class at round one of the Dutch championship at Spa, Belgium.

This was also the 18-year-old’s first time racing the 2-speed gearbox category, competing against the current European vice champion Dennis Kroes of the Netherlands, as well as some much more experienced drivers in his field.

After qualifying on pole position, the Austrian finished 2nd in the pre-final but drove an even better race to secure the victory in the final. He waited until the second-last corner to make his move for the lead to take a well-deserved win for his effort, fighting off a strong challenge from Zanardi driver Maik Barten.

Kraihamer claims he was a little nervous settling back into the seat after having the break over winter. However, he was very fast in his DD2 class debut.

“I admit I made a few small mistakes early on during the races under pressure, but once I was able to focus more on winning, I really pushed hard. As my first race in the Rotax DD2, it was obviously different to the Senior Max but we’ve been doing some testing through the off-season in Italy to be ready. It’s a great way to start the year for me and a great result for the team, so I’m pretty happy.”

The next event for the Kraihamer comes later in the month, when the team travels to Salbris, France for the opening round of the Rotax Euro Challenge. The competition is expected to be even tougher in the DD2 class, with the former Austrian Junior Max Champion up against an international field of drivers.

An over-optimistic last-lap manoeuvre denied Robert Foster-Jones a certain podium finish at the opening round of the Winning Series Karting [WSK] Championship at La Conca, Italy yesterday (16 March).

It capped an incident-filled weekend for the Winter Cup winner, who repeatedly delivered inspired performances after a poor Timed Qualifying. The 17-year old had been off the pace by 4 tenths of a second and found himself down in 29th place overall (out of 84 competitors).

With four elimination heats to come through, the Ricky Flynn Motorsport driver had it all to do if he was going to qualify up the grid for the Pre-Final. The safest place at the start of a race is invariably at the front, as a mid-grid position always places a driver in the ‘hot-spot’ - where carnage at the first corner occurs – and Rob was right in it. As expected, chaos ensued - but he was able to thread his way through the scattered karts and power his way up to 7th at the flag.

Buoyed by this, his next race was even better. The Essex teenager put in a brilliant drive to take 4th place, which then became 3rd when a driver was disqualified. He was now on a roll and his performance in the next heat, produced congratulatory texts to dad, Gary’s mobile phone. Starting in 12th place, Robert picked his way through the traffic to catch the leader Petri Suvanto (FIN) and finished just 4 1/1000ths of a second away from snatching victory.

A spectacular crash in the 4th heat saw Rob fall to last, before tigering his way back up to 10th and setting the fastest lap of the race. Finishing in 7th place or higher would have been good enough for 5th spot on the grid for the Pre-Final and out of the danger zone. As it was, he would start from 8th and on the outside line for the first corner.

In every race La Conca’s tight first corner and following hairpin had produced accidents, and as the tension mounted the crashes showed no signs of abating. As the pack hurtled into the first corner, Foster-Jones found himself knocked back to 15th, and again having to fight his way back up the order. He finished in 6th place, only denied a higher position by the chequered flag.

As the starter flicked the lights to green to start the Final, Robert managed to avoid any dramas and hold his position through the opening lap’s bends. Unfortunately the talented, but excitable, Japanese Ishiyama Gaku tried a “banzai” move that forced Rob wide and cost him time. Having lost ground, he clawed his way back up to the leading pack and moved his way into 4th. Rob takes up the story: “I was able to take [Paolo] De Conto for 3rd and then [Jack] Harvey for 2nd. Jack has a lot of racing experience and I thought, he’ll just sit behind me and wait, we’ll catch the leader and then go for it in the closing laps – but he didn’t. He launched a move and we started to fight for position. I re-passed him and was in 3rd on the last lap. We were just 6 corners from the chequered flag and Jack ran into the back of me. Luckily, I had nearly four seconds over the next man and was able to finish fourth and take valuable points.”

Despite his obvious disappointment, Foster-Jones has taken valuable points and sits 4th in the Championship table. With five rounds remaining, he’s confident that he can build on his performance and challenge for wins and overall victory in the series: “I had the pace to win and championships aren’t won at the first race. A trophy would’ve been a great reward for the team’s efforts all weekend but I’ll do my best to sort that out, sooner rather than later.”

The comment of one seasoned motorsport journalist on Ed Brand, who got his debut season in Junior Rotax Max off to a superb start when he won an incident-packed first round of the British Super 1 Championship at the Clay Pigeon raceway in Dorset yesterday (16 March).

The wet conditions and the circuit’s notorious Billy’s Blind corner produced racing that often more resembled a demolition derby than a top-flight kart race.

With drivers’ finishes in three qualifying heats determining their grid position for the final, surviving the carnage was essential. The 13-year old started his first race from 18th on the grid and found the experience somewhat ‘bumpy’ -“If anyone was going to spin off, or try to rejoin the circuit in that race, they all seemed to do it right in front of me”. This slowed his progress, but Ed was still able to finish in 10th place at the chequered flag.

The front of the grid was clearly the safest place to be - and Ed counted himself lucky to start on the 2nd row for his next race, where a sensible drive saw him finish 3rd. It was 3rd place again in his final heat. Starting from 14th, the Hertfordshire teenager got a good start and was up to 8th as the pack emerged out of the first two corners. By constantly moving up a place with each lap, Ed finished 3rd and sealed a second-row start for the final.

Conventional wisdom proves that Championships are won over the course of a season and not at the first race. But with a field of teenagers as twitchy as squirrels who have over done it on the Red Bull, patience was a rare commodity.

Indeed, as the 30-strong pack streamed into the tricky right-hander that is Billy’s Blind on the rolling up lap, Ed was clipped and launched skyward. Surviving intact, he was able to slot back into his proper starting position and take the start. As Ed and two other drivers barreled into Billy’s for the first time after the start, they were three-abreast. “I was reminded afterwards of Lewis Hamilton’s move at Silverstone when he raced in GP2. That move sealed his reputation and must’ve inspired me because as we came out of the corner and ran towards the first chicane, the other guys dropped back and I emerged in the lead.”

His lead lasted just two laps, before Ross Dougan passed him. Ed and Robert Browning piled on the pressure and Dougan succumbed – allowing them both through. The more experienced and physically bigger Browning muscled his way past Ed, but found the younger driver far from a push-over. On the penultimate lap, Ed re-assumed the lead and held it to the line.

Any detractors about Ed’s title chances before the race suddenly found themselves wondering whether the youngest driver in the series, was now the favourite to take overall honours. Brand himself was coy: “It’s easy to get carried away but I’d rather just take it one race at a time. This is only the first race of the season and I’m sure things will only get closer. My job is just to keep making the most of the kit that I’m given and rewarding the team’s hard work and faith in me.”

It was yet another brilliant result for ‘Intrepid Force Rotax’ team driver Kevin Reichard over the weekend, when he sealed the win yet again at the second round of the Middle East Karting Cup (MEKC) at the Kartdrome at Dubai Autodrome…

A shipping problem initially hampered the Austrian’s chances of being so competitive early on in the week, when all of the team’s spare parts and data logging equipment failed to arrive. The first day’s practice Wednesday was actually cancelled due to a logistics issue with customs, leaving only a limited time to do any testing prior to qualifying Friday. Local hotshot Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum set the pace to begin with, clocking the best lap for the session for what would be a very short-lived record at the Kartdrome. Attempting to come to terms with the challenging circuit, Reichard was a close 2nd fastest but struggling in the meantime to work with the standard set-up of his Intrepid chassis.

The afternoon heats saw a confident Sheikh Hasher take victory from pole position in both events, with the Austrian starting next to him on the outside grid. Unfortunately, Reichard found himself receiving a 10-second penalty in the first race when his airbox became dislodged, relegating him back to 3rd. The following race came down more to game-plan, as the Intrepid Force Rotax driver managed to comfortably catch and shadow the Sheikh’s every move so as to get his measure for the finals. Finishing a definite 2nd, it was looking like it would come down to a battle of the Titans Saturday.

According to Reichard’s mechanic Steve Chapman, they were relying totally on all they had to work with and the disadvantage was obvious. “Our ultimate pace was still lacking a touch on the stop watch. Even with one of our best HRS supplied engines, I felt we were down on power compared to the leader and trying to compensate what we could with the chassis wasn’t helping this… but we still didn’t have our spare parts. Once we got some data from the engine the next day to work with, the performance was immediately noticeable, matching the pace-setter and at times looking stronger.”

With the eventual arrival of the race gear to the circuit on finals day, a 3-lap warm-up on the new tyres gave little time to find the ideal set-up going into the pre-final. Reichard soon found better pace, however, capitalizing on the smallest hesitation by Sheikh Hasher while passing a back-marker, to steal the lead for a clear win of over three seconds by the end of the 20 laps.

The final got underway with what may have appeared to be a questionable line-up on the front row and with Sheikh Hasher’s familiarity of the track, made it difficult for Reichard to overtake him. The pair traded places briefly with an immediate fight-back from the local hero, only to lose his chance of taking the prize win as Reichard pulled away. Pushing hard, the young Intrepid team pilot increased the gap to 8+ seconds and smashed the lap record set in qualifying by his closest rival at round two. As the temperatures hovered in the mid-30’s, UAE-based driver Scott Latham attempted to claim 2nd from Sheikh Hasher, but was once again overcome around mid-race and had to settle for 3rd.
 
For the deserved winner, Reichard now has a strong lead over Italy’s Piero de Marchi in the MEKC, with the third and final round deciding the overall champion at Ghibli Raceway, Egypt April 16–19.

Kevin Reichard - “Even though the event didn’t start off the best for me in Dubai, I really enjoyed the racing and of course, I’m very happy to take another win in the series. The Kartdrome has nice facilities but this would have to be the most difficult track that I have driven on. It has some really tight hairpins and using tyres with more grip than I am used to, so I had to work a lot on my driving.”